


Being the Spare

by orphan_account



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Friendship, Low Self Esteem, M/M, Pre-Slash, the pain of having very attractive siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 08:05:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2060424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nori knows he can't compare to his brothers.<br/>It always takes him by surprise when someone talks to him not because of them, but just because he's himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Being the Spare

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to a ficlet about a pairing that I ship more than I should considering there are three fics about it and seemingly little interest for it.  
> I might write more, and then again I might not. I just wanted to write pretty badly today, but my file for "if you close your eyes" is on my tablet so I can't access it at work  
> not that I'm writing fanfics at work  
> that would be so unprofessional  
> I would never do that  
> obviously

When young Kili came to sit with him, two nights after Bag End, Nori thought he knew why. It wasn’t the first time some came to talk to him like that while he was travelling with his brothers. He was already revising his little speech, the one about Dori who was craft wed and never took lovers, while Ori was too young for that sort of things and…

“Ori says you took some of Bilbo’s spoons,” Kili said, wonder and disapproval all over his dark face. “How did you do that? He counted them twice before going to bed, and when I went to have a piss, he was counting them again!”

“I’m an early riser. Early bird gets the worm and all that.”

“Didn’t know magpies ate worms,” Kili laughed. “I’ve seen you smile, I’d have thought you were a bird of prey!”

“Better than looking like a puppy.”

The prince laughed again, and Nori relaxed a little. He shouldn’t have. But if the boy was patient enough not to straight out explain that he wanted to bang Dori or Ori, maybe he deserved a chance.

“Really though, how did you get the hobbit’s spoons, and where are you hiding them?” Kili insisted, still half laughing. “I won’t believe it until I’ve seen them, you know.”

That was a challenge, and Nori had never known how to resist them. From somewhere in his hair, he produce a spoon.

Kili applauded, like a child seeing a nice magic trick.

“You really did!” he exclaimed. “That is amazing! And you kept it in your hair? Oh, master Nori, I think you have many things to teach me!”

“Not sure your uncle will approve of you getting taught by a thief.”

“Oh, uncle approves of nothing I do,” Kili retorted, still laughing. “I’m the family’s disappointment. Might as well do it properly, and get wandering hands. Beside, it’s going to be a long trip, I’ve got to keep myself busy.”

Nori did not protest against that affirmation of being a disappointment. Kili was a nice boy, or seemed like one at least, but compared to his uncle’s charisma, or his brother’s air of responsibility… the boy couldn’t have competed against that, and it was something Nori understood too well. Never easy, being the ugly kid, or the one who wasn’t smart enough. And maybe princes could feel like that too.

“First thing you’ve got to learn, kiddo, is how to distract people,” Nori said.

Kili grinned wide, and listened intently, mimicking Nori’s gestures at the right times, and laughing whenever he messed up.

It was a nice evening, all things considered.

And Kili never asked anything about Dori and Ori.

 

* * *

 

Bofur was the first and last to try to flirt. He had been winking and hinting things at Dori since day one. He went too far one morning, pretending to clean away some dirt on the grey haired dwarf’s bottom. Dori made it quite clear that he wanted none of that, and Bofur politely backed away, promising he would not insist. Nori wanted to believe him, but he still started planning how to make sure that his brother was safe. He was distracted from it when Kili’s pony came to right next to his.

“You look murderous this morning, master Nori,” he said, looking sincerely worried. “Is it because of Bofur? He won’t bother your brother again, you know. He’s an old family friend, and he’s decent. He knows to accept a no.”

“Everyone’s decent, until the day they’re not. Especially around my brothers.”

Kili nodded, but he was surprised.

“So they get a lot of attention, don’t they? Well, I imagine I can understand why. They are very pretty.”

Nori braced himself for the next comment.

None came.

And that was odd, because no one ever stopped at “they’re pretty”. People always said something about wishing they had a chance, or asking what sort of dwarves they liked, when they didn’t straight out say they were going to get a piece of that. But not Kili, he kept silent, and even looked sincerely sorry that they had to deal with such unwanted attention.

“Fili has the same problem, you know,” the prince said after a while, to break the silence. “He looks like a piece of the sun fell to earth, and then there’s the whole status thing, so a lot of people try their chance with him, or they look at him and moon over him from a distance, and it’s annoying. I used to be pretty jealous, to be honest.”

Kili laughed, without any bitterness in his voice. He’d gotten used to being the less attractive sibling, and Nori admired him for it. It had taken him a good deal longer to accept that he was the brother nobody wanted. He’d gotten into terrible fights with Dori over that, once, and hadn’t calmed down until Ori had attracted creeps too. Dori might have been handsome, regally so almost, but Ori had been young and pretty, and the people who went after him were dangerous sometimes, so Nori had learned to protect him. He’d never been so jealous anymore once he’d understood what it felt like to get that sort of attention.

“Your brother is nice enough to look at,” Nori admitted, and he saw Kili tense, as if he too were used to hearing something else after that.

But Nori had nothing more to say. Fili was gorgeous, but not Nori’s type.

They rode in silence for a while. A nice, comfortable silence, and Nori thought that the prince wasn’t so bad

When they stopped at midday to let the ponies rest a bit, Kili gave back his pipe to Nori, smiling proudly. Nori had noticed it of course, and he told him what he should have done better, but first he congratulated him for taking anything.


End file.
